On August 26, 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted by the French National Assembly, which also was known as the Constituent Assembly, owing to its self-appointed task of framing a constitution for the French nation. This body began as one of three Estates, or orders, within the Estates-General, which had been convened in early May by King Louis XVI. The three orders of which the Estates-General consisted were the nobility, the clergy, and the Third Estate, made up of all other French citizens.

… this assumption of political sovereignty by the Third Estate was a clear sign that a number of ancient legal privileges that the crown and nobility possessed would not be permitted to stand. Indeed, many members of the nobility and clergy strongly supported the abolition of feudal privileges and other radical reforms that were about to follow.